KCIT featured in Microsoft’s Customer Stories
Microsoft has featured their work with King County in a recent “Customer Stories” feature on their website. This story discusses how King County is using Microsoft Dynamics 365 “as a rapid application development engine to replatform legacy applications and create new information systems.”
The prospect of dealing with a government agency puts a knot in the stomach of most Americans. … But, King County, Washington, is committed to changing that view, with a mission to offer residents the ‘best-run government’ with every interaction. -Microsoft
Microsoft spoke with several KCIT leaders working to provide our internal and external customers with a ‘no wrong door’ experience, including IT Service Manager Sandra Valdivia and Senior Manager of Engineering Temujin Baker. Other contributors included Director of the Office of Civil Rights Kelli Williams and Director of Customer Service Natasha Jones.
Visit Microsoft’s Customer Stories to read their story about KCIT.
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Guidance for promoting access to benefits and services for immigrants
Some King County facilities qualify as Sensitive locations with the Department of Homeland Security. Some examples of sensitive locations are schools, hospitals, institutions of worship, and offices providing services for children, pregnant women, and victims of domestic abuse or individuals with significant mental or physical disabilities. The policy does not say that immigration agents cannot enter these locations, only that enforcement actions at these locations are discouraged and that immigration agents have to go through a supervisory review process before they are undertaken.
King County is training our employees to be prepared in case of a visit from immigration agents.
The two keys to preparation:
- Designating “Private Areas”: Immigration agents, like anyone else, may freely access all public areas of King County facilities, but in order to access private areas of our facilities, they will need to present a warrant signed by a federal judge in the last 14 days. Our team will be working immediately to determine the most appropriate areas to designate as “private”.
- Designating managers/supervisors to be leads: Each department and site will designate a specific person or persons as responsible for handling contacts with law enforcement officials. All other staff are to inform immigration or other law enforcement officials that only a Designated Lead is authorized to review a warrant or to consent to their entry into private areas. We will develop trainings for designated leads immediately.
A few important points:
- Federal Law prohibits you from knowingly harboring or hiding undocumented individuals or interfering with an ongoing investigation.
- Federal law also prohibits King County from adopting ordinances or policies that restrict employees from communicating information about an individual’s immigration status with federal immigration officials.
- However, absent a warrant signed by a federal judge, King County employees are under no obligation to provide immigration agents with information about an individual’s immigration status, or assist immigration agents in their duties.
- Staff should document the name/contact information of the immigration agents they interact with (ask for their cards) and, if possible, record the interactions with immigration agents (but they should announce they are making a recording). After any interaction, staff should prepare a thorough report of the interaction.
Below are highlights of steps that the County has taken towards continuing our commitment to equity and social justice:
1. Language access executive order of 2010
King County is committed to translating public communication materials and vital documents for those with limited English proficiency. A person who does not speak or read English proficiently has the right to ask government agencies, and health clinics for translation or interpretation services. It is generally inappropriate for children or relatives to be used as interpreters in many matters. Many government agencies are also required by law to provide language access in languages other than English.
2. A commitment to carrying out the 2009 Ordinance
I am sure that most of you are aware of the ordinance in place relating to ascertaining immigration status as it relates to the public health and safety of the residents of King County. I want to ask each of you to please take 5 min to read the full ordinance here. Some important points are:
- This ordinance affirms the right of undocumented immigrants in King County to access and interact with the courts and employees of King County regardless of immigration status.
- This ordinance states that otherwise required by law, any County office, department, employee, agency, or agent shall not deny access to services to any individual or family based on immigration status.
- The Sheriff’s Office and Public health employees of King county will not request specific documents relating to a person’s immigration status to determine if an individual has violated federal civil immigration laws.
3. All are Welcome here posters, Know Your Rights and other resources for your clients
Your office should have posters put up in the building as a first step. Please contact the Office of Equity and Social Justice if you need access to these posters.
Next Steps:
- Executive staff have already started working with the public health team to develop the necessary guidance for employees in clinics. We will use this as a template to support all other departments.
- Review and Revise policies/practices to mitigate any potential negative impacts on undocumented populations.
- Review existing policies and assess how to avoid collecting patient data that can be used to identify or deport undocumented people.
More Information and Resources:
- You want to know more about immigration? Watch this video containing critical information produced between City of Seattle and Northwest Immigrant Right Project http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos?videoid=x71498
- Taking Back the Narrative: How to Talk About Immigrants and Immigration http://www.ilctr.org/promoting-immigrants/ilc-workshops/taking-back-the-narrative/
- New American Economy (NAE), has launch a map to highlight the power of immigrants in communities across the country. Featured in an interactive map that also includes state- and sector-specific data, NAE’s quantifies every locality’s foreign-born population, tax contributions, spending power, home ownership, and voting power, among other items.
- Finding information to help your clients: we have established a Tools and resources page for King County with know your rights pamphlets and videos in multiple languages. http://www.kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/equity-social-justice/Immigrant-and-Refugee/Tools-and-Resources.aspx
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Book your next camping adventure online!
Reservations and payments for camping sites, yurts and container camping at King County’s popular Tolt MacDonald Park and Campground can now be booked online.
Earlier this year, the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the Department of Information Technology (KCIT) and membership management software company PerfectMind launched the online reservation system for King County Parks.
Tolt MacDonald is the first park to offer online booking and payments. All sites can be reserved up to one year in advance with a one week notice. Sites for recreational vehicles and tents that have not been reserved in advance are available on a first-come, first-served basis using the campground’s self-registration system. Yurts and the camping container require a reservation at least one week in advance.
There are plenty of activity options at Tolt MacDonald. The picnic shelters and restored barn can be rented for company picnics, weddings or other special events. The grass ballfields are available for softball, baseball and soccer. There are plenty of trails to explore. Don’t forget your mountain bike! Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance is a partner, and Tolt is a favorite site for mountain biking. An extensive network of trails on the Ames Lake Plateau can be accessed from the park.
Visit DNRP’s site to book your site. A complete list of fees is also available. Visa, MasterCard and Discover may be used to pay. To rent other facilities, contact the Regional Scheduling Office at 206-477-6150 or by email. For more information, visit the King County Parks Plog.
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Administrative Professionals Recognition Event a huge success
Career Support Services and the Administrative Professionals Advisory Committee sponsored the second annual Administrative Professionals Recognition Event on April 26. More than 200 employees attended the event, which is an impressive increase over last year’s attendance of about 100.
As part of the festivities, attendees enjoyed tasty treats, networked, learned valuable information from guest speakers including an introduction to Career Support Services’ new online career development tool, and of course had a great time.
Many administrative professionals expressed their gratitude:
“Thank you for the efforts involved with organizing today’s second annual King County Administrative Professionals Recognition Event. It was my first time attending and the event was worthwhile and engaging. This acknowledgement and recognition has reaffirmed that King County is a wonderful place to work. I’m glad to be here.”
“Thanks for hosting such a successful event yesterday that clearly helped folks to feel honored, valued, appreciated!”
“Thank you guys so much for sponsoring this wonderful event for us – Administration Day! 🙂 I truly enjoyed myself.”
“I was at the great Admin event today. Thank you very much for having us there!”
“There are some staff that didn’t get to attend the event and asked where I got my awesome MLK pin.”
To learn more about the Administrative Professionals Program, visit www.kingcounty.gov/administrativeprofessionals or email administrativeprofessionals@kingcounty.gov.
Individuals recognized at the event were nominated before March 24, 2017. They are:
From Adult and Juvenile Detention: Cathy Bossett, Lisa Burden, Traci Case, Anna Ponder, Jimmy Serrano, Mistica Straight. From Assessments: Kay Koitzsch. From Community and Human Services: Mindy Hawkins. From District Courts: Stephanie Ramirez. From Elections: The Voter Services Team, Signe Chan. From Executive Services: Teresa Brown, Ben Gannon, Amanda Gudmunson, Sandra Netwon-Hinton. From Natural Resources and Parks: Sylvia Aro, Proceso Bihis, Robert Edsforth, Roxanne Malatesta, Paige Meyers, Kris Nielsen, Kristin Painter, Anna Pennington, Robin Robinson, Michael Stella, Karen Yoshioka. From Public Defense: Kieran Alho, Patty Berry, Marcella Clement, Mickayla Rogers, Stephanie Sellers, Charlotte Smith. From Public Health: Caroline Aaron, Danica Boss, Patricia Christie, Robin Cowan, Shirley Dickerson, Senkanesh Gizaw, Donna Hale, Julie Hasz, Leah Holland, Lena Louie, Jennifer Loyd, Claire Magbanua, Lila Mota-Loza, Leslie Martin Pruneda, Angela Rutledge, Keith Siebler, Vince Webb. From Transportation: Lisa Dove, Linda Eaves, Judith Price, Kerri Tsujii, Mirla Santiago.
Click here to see a video of the event, or watch it below.
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Big Backyard 5K on June 11
The eighth-annual King County Parks Big Backyard 5K presented by Kaiser Permanente will take place on Sunday, June 11 at Marymoor Park. King County employees can take $5 off their registration fee with the promo code KC5off. Register today as an individual or team for this fun family friendly event and refer a friend to receive a cool BBY5K branded coffee mug!
Participating in the Parks Fitness Challenge for this year’s Healthy Incentives? Don’t forget to swing by the King County Parks information booth after the race to get your code word.
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Career opportunities as diverse as the people who work here
King County’s 14,000 employees provide a wide range of vital services to our community, and we’ve been out talking to some of them about their work and careers at King County.
One of those employees Penny Lara, a Transportation Planner with Metro Transit, is featured in our latest careers video.
“One of the most important things of my job is that I’m in touch with the community,” Penny said in the video. ”I’m also bringing the community’s perspective back to the agency so we can better plan for different programs. We want to make sure that we represent the communities that we serve.”
King County offers a wide range of rewarding careers that provide an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people across our communities.
We are also working to become racially diverse and culturally responsive at all levels of the organization, which will help us provide equitable, high quality services to all our communities, as part of the Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan.
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KCIT WannaCry Ransomware Update
This is a long message but please read it entirely. This message contains important information that all King County employees need to be aware of.
KCIT is aware of a new ransomware called WannaCry. You may have seen news articles and publications on this over the weekend. WannaCry encrypts computer files and demands an average payment of $300 which doubles three days after the infection. If no payment has been received after seven days, the files will be deleted. WannaCry utilizes a known weakness affecting most versions of Microsoft Windows. Systems that are up-to-date on Microsoft patches are not susceptible to the exploit used by WannaCry.
King County has seen no instances of this cyberattack on our systems. The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), one of KCIT’s cybersecurity partners, has not received any reports indicating a successful WannaCry infections of State, Local, Tribal or Territorial governments. The good news is that a researcher in the UK has effectively stopped this version of the Ransomware. However, KCIT is being proactive and monitoring for changes in the situation.
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RALS Leadership Fellowship opportunity
The Department of Executive Services, Records & Licensing Services (RALS) is announcing the Leadership Fellowship Opportunity, an effort to create a culture that develops the next generation of leaders and nurture an empowered workforce.
The Leadership Fellowship opportunity will be for two six-month fellowships (Special Duty Assignment) to two Career Service employees. The first fellowship will start in July 2017 and the second fellowship will start in January 2018. It is open to all Career Service Employees who have a salary range of 65 or higher (or equivalent). To check salary information using PeopleSoft Self Service click here.
Selected individuals will have a rigorous and customized leadership development plan which will include; mastering leadership skills including Operations, Human Resources, Finance and Organizational Development.
Applications will be accepted beginning Monday, May 8 through Sunday, May 21. Please apply online at www.kingcounty.gov/jobs. A completed King County Application and a PDF statement of no more than 750 words is required. This statement should reflect a personal interest in the fellowship and how the employee’s background and areas for development make them the ideal candidate. No resumes or additional materials are needed.
For more information, view the job posting. For questions, please contact Robert James at 206-263-9414 or robert.james@kingcounty.gov.
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PRIDE is coming June 25
“Whether you arrived here last week or whether you’ve lived here for five generations, you belong here” – King County Executive Dow Constantine
Please join King County Executive Dow Constantine and other colleagues, friends and family as we walk in the Pride Parade on Sunday, June 25.
Bring yourself, your family, your friends and enjoy the parade together!
As always, there will be fabulous t-shirts available for order soon for about $10 with our theme for this year: We ALL Belong Here.
Want to be up on all of the Pride information? Send an email to Leah Holland at leah.holland@kingcounty.gov with “Pride Info” in the subject line. Leah will send out updates including the t-shirt order form (in about a week), location and time to meet (one week before Pride), and other things to those who contact her as information becomes available!
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EMAP Accreditation awarded to King County OEM
King County Office of Emergency (OEM) has earned full accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) – a validation of the capabilities of our disaster preparedness and response systems. Accreditation from this internationally recognized program represents a significant achievement and compliance with sixty-four industry-recognized standards. The rigorous EMAP process required a year-long internal self-assessment of OEM’s organizational programs, plans, and procedures, capped by an on-site peer-review by a team of EMAP assessors drawn from programs across the U.S.
“For the past five years, OEM has completed a top to bottom assessment and realignment of our region-wide mission, values, goals, and objectives,” stated OEM Director Walt Hubbard, pictured with Executive Constantine. “EMAP is the capstone of this effort and represents a validation of our entire emergency management community.”
“I applaud King County’s leadership and your dedication to the safety and security of our residents,” stated Seattle Office of Emergency Management Director and EMAP Commissioner Barb Graff. “Congratulations on achieving EMAP accreditation and earning a perfect score.”
Accreditation is valid for five years. To earn reaccredited status, the program must maintain compliance with the Emergency Management Standard and be reassessed.
Employee News 